Fighting Spirit
by Nienna Elendil
Summary: What if Steph hadn't died in the car accident? Please read and review!


**I will always love Steph and Ben. They were so in love and so cute together. Steph was my fave character:)**

**Hope you like the story guys, please review!**

**More chapters to come I promise!**

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Luke Forlano cut a lonely figure as he walked down the theatre corridor. His scrubs were drenched with sweat, as if he had just come out of an enormous fight.

He had. For someone else's life.

What am I going to tell Ben? he thought. They had come so close……

Luke looked through the theatre doors into the waiting area. Ben was staring straight ahead, not moving, his wife's blood angrily staining his shirt red, not letting him forget.

_"What's wrong with me, Ben?" Steph looked down at her hand, which was covered in blood. Ben, his eyes filled with tears, gently took hold of it, their hands joined, and placed it on her lap._

"_You just hold on for me, ok?" he choked. He couldn't lose her now. They had been through so much. "Promise me!"_

"_I promise" she said. "I promise……I promise…." They shared a kiss, he whispered "I love you" and she was gone._

_But they were still holding hands…..their love, for the moment, was holding them together._

Bron was sitting next to Ben, tears cutting a gleaming path down her face. She could still see the blood, the glass, the smashed car…..and Steph.

_Bron grabbed the gear and hurried over to the car. Great, she thought, a head-on. For the hundredth time that morning she wished she hadn't gone out last night._

_Until she saw the blonde hair sticking out the car window._

_That couldn't be Steph, could it? Not a chance, she would be at work early…..but Bron felt the assurance fade away as she got closer._

"_Oh Jesus!" Steph lay in a pool of blood, a huge shard of glass sticking out of her abdomen. The sight burned in her mind as Bron felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. NO….I need to focus…..for Steph._

_But where was Ben? Bron looked over to find him frozen, his face contorted in terror._

"_Ben!"_

_They would save her…… wouldn't they?_

Luke slowly opened the doors. Only Bron looked up.

_They were wheeling her into theatre. They crossed the cruel red line, and Luke held Ben back. "You can't go in there." He had looked so frightened, so helpless._

"_Wait!"_

_He bent down and kissed her forehead, and whispered, "I love you" into her ear. As they wheeled her in, Ben looked straight at Luke, his face etched with heartache and his eyes swimming with tears._

"_We'll do everything we can."_

And they had. Ben had still not noticed that Luke had come in. He only looked up when Bron called his name.

"We…she arrested."

Ben's face crumpled, his hands covering his face.

Luke placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to offer what comfort he could.

"We managed to get her back, but it was touch and go. Her injuries are severe, she's in ICU. Ben…she's critical, the next 24 hours will be crucial."

He swallowed the ache that was burning in his throat.

" She may not survive. You can see her whenever you like."

Ben quickly rose from the seat, Luke's arm falling from his own. He rushed out, intent on seeing Steph's face, to touch her, to feel her, to be with her.

Luke sank into Bron's arms, exhausted. "I thought we were going to lose her." Bron looked into his eyes, and Luke could see the same fear. "She'll get through this Luke, she'll pull through."

Luke sat on the hard plastic chairs, trying to erase the image of Steph's vulnerable body on the theatre table.

"How do you know Bron? She's still so sick"

Bron knelt down next to him and took his hands. A half smile played on her lips, her attempt at happiness betrayed only by the tears crowding her eyes and threatening to fall.

"Have you ever seen me and her in an argument? She always wins."

A sob caught in her throat at the last word. Luke wrapped his arms around her, the sadness a blanket over them.

And then the threat became a reality, and she cried.

Ben sat by Steph's bed. Even now, with a network of tubes ravaging her body, she was still beautiful.

He took hold of her hand, her wedding ring shining in the artificial light of the ICU ward.

"Come on baby, you're scaring me. I love you so much. You can beat this, I know you can. I'll be right here when you wake up." Steph was a fighter, Ben knew that. But how much longer could she keep it up?

Tears flowed down his face as he gently kissed his fingers and placed them on her lips, next to the tube that was breathing for her.

"You said you'd hold on."

"You promised."


End file.
